Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us today. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to continue preaching in the book
of John, the gospel of John chapter one. And the title of the message
is John's Testimony of Christ. And this is part two. I started
back up in verse 15 of John 1 talking about the testimony of John the
Baptist concerning Christ. And I left off last week here
in verse 23 and 24 when the Pharisees, you remember John, he didn't
blend in with the religious majority in Judah and Jerusalem. He was outside in the wilderness
preaching his message and baptizing with water. And you know, he
didn't wear the garb of the priest or the prophets who claim to
believe the truth, but didn't. He wore animal skins, he ate
locust and wild honey, all of those things about John. He was
a real interesting character. But he was a preacher of the
gospel. He was a prophet of God. He was the last of the Old Testament
prophets. And his message was the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace through the blood and the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation not by works. Salvation
not by decisions that people make today. Salvation by God's
grace. And he preached that message.
He pointed sinners to Christ. And what did he say? And we looked
at several things. I urge you to get the message
last week if you haven't heard it. Because John's testimony
of Christ is that Christ is God manifest in the flesh. He's the
one who came and saved his people by the fullness of his work.
Well, here we pick up, it says in verse 24, and they which were
sent were of the Pharisees. The ones who were sent from Jerusalem
to question John about who he was and what he was doing, they
were Pharisees. And you need to understand something
about the Pharisees. I think a lot of people have
a bad view, a wrong view, let's say, of the Pharisees. They were
hypocrites, and some of them were greedy, all of that. But
you know, it's like religion today. If you look at people
today who claim to be Christian, you have some who are very serious,
very sincere, even kind and generous. There was a Pharisee like that.
His name was Nicodemus in John chapter three. We'll look at
that later on if the Lord allows us. But then they had their hypocrites,
their evil, their political, their ambitious ones too. Somebody said, well, they were
just real hateful. Well, they were, you know, when Christ and
his disciples came on the scene, what Christ preached exposed
what they held in high esteem as being evil. It's just like
you today. Now think about this. If you
claim to be a Christian, you go to church and you're doing
your best to be a sincere, obedient Christian, but let's say you
don't believe the truth, the doctrine of Christ. And if a
preacher came along who did believe it and exposed you, said, now
look, you're lost. Your deeds are evil. How would
you react to that? You wouldn't be pleasant, probably.
You'd probably be hurt. He might even be vengeful, I
don't know. But understand, how do you know
what a Pharisee was at this time? A Pharisee is one who sought
to be righteous before God, accepted with God by his works under the
law. And what John was preaching was
opposed to that. John preached in verse 16 of
John 1, and of his of Christ's fullness have all we received
and grace for grace. Salvation is not by your works,
it's by grace. And let me tell you what a hypocrite
is in God's sight. Now this is where you need to
understand this. Any sinner, whether it be you or me or anybody
else, who comes before God seeking salvation based upon any conditions
that they themselves had made, any works, any decisions, that's
hypocritical because God won't receive that. We must come pleading
the blood of His Son alone, the righteousness of His Son alone,
His righteousness imputed to us and received by God-given
faith. So understand that. Well, the
Pharisees went out to question him. And look at verse 25. This is where we'll pick up today.
They asked John, and they said unto him, why baptizest thou
then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias or Elijah, neither
that prophet? Now, it's hard to discern what
was in their minds when they asked that question. Why are
you baptizing John? And I think what it is, if you'll
think about it, there were baptisms, what they call baptisms under
the old covenant. And what those were, they were
ceremonial washings. It wasn't Christian baptism,
which is a confession of Christ. But they had to wash for this,
they had to bathe for that. It was ceremonial washings and
it was called baptisms. There's a sense of being baptized
into Moses, which meant being united to Moses under that covenant.
So what they're asking here is who gives you the authority to
do what you're doing if you're not the Christ, if you're not
the Messiah, or if you're not Elijah, or if you're not that
prophet that Moses prophesied of in Deuteronomy 18? What's
your authority? Well, and what's your power?
Listen to John's answer. This is John's testimony of Christ.
Verse 26, John answered them saying, I baptize with water,
but there standeth one among you whom you know not. Look at verse 27. He it is who's
coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe latchet
I am not worthy to unloose. Now think about that. And these things were done in
Beth-Aborah, beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. Now, let
me turn over to Matthew chapter three. You can turn there too,
if you want to. And what was John saying there?
He said, I baptize with water. Well, he's simply telling him
he doesn't have the power to save them. His baptism was just
of water. And John's baptism, there's a
lot of different ways that people look at this and describe it.
John's baptism, some say it was different than Christian baptism.
John's baptism now. I'm not talking about those washings
under the old covenant. But John's baptism is called
the baptism of repentance. Look over in Matthew chapter
three. This is Matthew's account of this. And it's in verse 11
of Matthew 3. John says, I indeed baptize you
with water unto repentance. It seems that what John is saying
there is his baptism was a preparation for the coming of the Messiah,
which we'd have to believe it was. And he's saying when those
who were baptized, they were to repent of thinking that they
could have ever been saved by their works and be prepared to
be saved by grace. Now we know that it takes the
providence and power of God the Spirit to bring a sinner to do
that. So what all they were confessing were not exactly clear other
than the baptism of repentance. I baptize you with water unto
repentance. But look at verse 11. Here's
what John was saying because Matthew adds this. But he that
cometh after me, that's Christ, is mightier than I. whose shoes
I'm not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire. Now that's the baptism of the
Holy Ghost. And let me tell you what he's
talking about. He's talking about the new birth. My friend, the
baptism of the Holy Spirit is not some addendum or second or
third or fourth work of grace after you're saved. The baptism
of the Holy Spirit is the new birth in bringing a sinner under
the preaching of the gospel and giving that sinner life, spiritual
life from the dead, spiritual life from above, and giving that
sinner the faith and the knowledge to believe in Christ and lay
hold of Him. Christ said you must be born
again or you cannot see. You don't have spiritual eyes.
The Kingdom of God. You can't enter the Kingdom of
God. And sinners are born again by the power of the Holy Spirit,
and that word fire there that he's talking about, the Holy
Spirit and with fire, he's talking about with the Holy Spirit, who's
the agent, the sovereign agent in the new birth, and with fire
means with power. And what he's talking about there
is that when the Spirit comes to do his great work in the new
birth, regeneration and conversion under the preaching of the gospel,
it cannot be resisted. because he baptizes with fire,
with power. He burns up the dross and makes
us anew in that sense. And so, understand that. Now,
I know in the book of Acts there's some language that people confuse
about when Paul came to those who believed the gospel and he
asked them, have you received the Holy Spirit yet? What he's
talking about there is spiritual gifts of ministry that were bestowed
upon believers at that time because they didn't have the completed
authority of the Word of God as we do today. And I believe
those spiritual ministry gifts of miracles have ceased. Now, a lot of people disagree
with me and they jump on that, but here's what I want you to
know about that. I don't argue with it. I know what I believe.
I've read in the New Testament, but I don't argue with them.
Here's what I want to tell you. If somebody says they have the
gift, well, speaking in tongues, for example, the gift of tongues
was not speaking in gibberish. some language that no human being
can understand. The gift of tongues in the book
of Acts and in 1 Corinthians 14, the gift of tongues was the
ability, the miraculous ability to preach the gospel or to hear
the gospel in another language, which you had not learned before.
That's what that was. It wasn't just some, what they
call heavenly language that nobody can understand. And anytime that
the gift of tongues was used, Paul said, you gotta have an
interpreter. So if some, let's say if a Spanish person walked
into our church and God gave me the ability to speak the gospel
in Spanish, I don't know Spanish, but if he gave me that ability,
that would be the gift of tongues, languages, Or I could preach
it in English and he'd give that person the gift to hear it in
his own language. That's what happened in the book
of Acts. So understand that now. And those were gifts of ministry.
But they had received the Holy Spirit in the new birth, or they
wouldn't have believed in Christ. The Bible says, he that believeth
is not condemned. He has life from the dead. Now
here's what John is saying there. He's saying, look, He who's coming
after me, that's Christ. And over here, John recognized,
and I don't know how he knew this, but I guess God revealed
it to him, when he said in verse 26, John 1, 26, I baptize with
water, but there standeth one among you whom you know not.
John knew that Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, was standing among
them. And he says in verse 27, he it is who's coming after me
is preferred before me. In other words, don't worship
me, I'm not your savior. There's one coming after me,
he's gonna appear before you after I appear, but he's before
me. He has preeminence over me. He's
eternal, and he said that person, his shoe latchet, I'm not worthy
to, I'm not even worthy to be a servant to untie his shoes. That's the testimony of John
the Baptist. I often use the example of what
I call the John the Baptist school of ministry, or school of preaching.
And you can see several things that John said. He said, I'm
not the Christ. He said, I only baptize with
water. When I baptize somebody in New Testament baptism, Christian
baptism as we call it, I'm just performing the will of God, revealed
will of God by way of command. But I didn't save that person.
I don't have the power to give that person new life, a new heart,
new eyes, faith, repentance. All I'm doing is baptizing with
water. And that's important, but it's not the power of God
unto salvation. The Holy Spirit is through the
preaching of the gospel, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it.
In other words, if you believe the gospel, then the Holy Spirit's
done his work. He's convinced you of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment. Well, John says, I'm not even
worthy to be a servant. That's what a servant did, take
the shoes off of his master. I'm not even worthy to do that.
I don't have any worthiness in myself. Worthy is the lamb that
was slain. And then it says, he said these
things in Beth-Abrah, beyond Jordan, where John was baptized.
Now look at verse 29. Now here's a verse that so many
people abuse. It says, the next day, John seeth
Jesus coming unto him. That one that was standing among
them, he came to John. Over in Matthew chapter three,
it speaks of that. Jesus came to John. And here's what he said. Here's
what John said when he saw him. Behold the Lamb of God. which
taketh or beareth away the sin of the world." Wow, what a statement. But that's John's testimony of
Christ. He starts out calling him the Lamb of God. What does
that mean? Well, you know about the sacrifices
of lambs under the old covenant law. You remember the Passover
where they were all to take a young lamb of a year old without spot
and without blemish and slay the lamb and roast it, spread
the blood over the door. God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. Well, that animal blood had no
power to bring about forgiveness or righteousness. Hebrews chapter
10 says, the blood of bulls and of goats can never take away
sin. They were types. They were pictures. You know, when the lamb first
appeared was Abel's lamb. Abel was a shepherd and he brought
the lamb and slew the lamb and offered the blood to God. That
was a picture of Christ, the lamb of God. He's the fulfillment
of all the lambs. That's why today we don't sacrifice
lambs. because Christ has finished it.
It's over. The veil in the temple was rent
in two, from top to bottom, and there's no reason to slay an
animal now. Christ has come. Behold the Lamb of God. He's
God's Lamb, and He's the only Lamb, and there's no other Lamb. Isn't that interesting? You know,
Christ calls Himself the Shepherd in other places because He's
both. He's the Shepherd, but He's the Lamb. He's the High
Priest, and He's the Offering. And then it says here, behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Now
that word taketh away means to bear those sins away. Now you
remember back in the old covenant, the law of the scapegoat, where
they brought two goats. and the high priest laid his
hand on one, and then they took the lamb and took him out into
the wilderness, never to be seen again, bearing the sins away. That was all a picture, that
was all a type. Christ bore the sins of his sheep
away. But now many people confuse this.
What is it to have our sins bore away, borne away? Well, first
of all, how did Christ bear those sins? Well, there's several ways
that the Bible puts that, but think about 2 Corinthians 5.21,
where it says, for he, now the he there is God the Father, made
him, the him there is Christ, the Son of God incarnate, God
the Father made Christ, the Son of God incarnate, to be or to
made him to be sin or made him sin, all right? For us. And then the who knew no sin
there doesn't refer to us, it refers to Christ. For us who
knew no sin, Christ who knew no sin, for us, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. That's 2 Corinthians
5.21. How was he made sin? How did
he bear sin? And the Bible tells us it's by
the doctrine of imputation. Now what is imputation? I say it all the time on this
program. It is the legal charge of a debt to another person who
can pay that debt. It's like becoming a surety.
It's like if you owe money, and you cannot pay the money, and
somebody steps in voluntarily and says, well put it on my account,
I'll repay it. That's what Christ did for his
people, God's elect, before the world began. He's the surety
of the covenant. See, that's what happens when
the debt is imputed to you, you didn't run it up, you didn't
cause it, but somebody else did, but whoever you pay the debt
for, you've become surety for them. So he was made sin by imputation,
by the legal charging or accounting of the sin debt of his people
to his person. He was made sin, he bore our
sins. By His stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53 is a beautiful passage that teaches this. By His stripes we are healed.
He took my place. He's my surety, He's my substitute,
and He's my Redeemer. And He paid the debt with the
price of His blood and bore those sins away. To bear them away
means He paid for them. And they cannot be charged to
me. So that the Bible says, blessed is the man unto whom the Lord
imputeth not iniquity. I'm a person, if I'm all believers,
true believers, you are people to whom God cannot and will not
charge iniquity. And he bore them away. God cannot
condemn you because he cannot charge sin to you. He has charged
you, He has given over to your account the righteousness of
Christ imputed to you. I stand before God, not in a
righteousness that I worked out. It's not one that I put into
effect by my faith. It's His righteousness imputed
to me. And out of that comes faith and life and repentance.
This body is dead because of sin, Romans 8, 10, but the spirit
is life because of righteousness, Christ's righteousness. And that's
how he bore my sins away. He's my surety, my substitute,
my redeemer, he's my scapegoat, he's my lamb. Worthy is the lamb
that was slain. But it says here he did it for
the world. Now the word world is a much
misunderstood word in the Bible. It doesn't mean every person
who has ever lived on this world, every individual without exception.
The world here means that it refers to those for whom he bore
their sins away. Listen, if he bore your sins
away, you cannot be condemned. The Bible says in Romans 8 in
verse 33, who shall lay anything to the charge of who? God's elect. But why does it
say world? It's because God has a people
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation all over this
world. And anytime you see the word
world, it's always qualified. John 3.16, for example, that
people quote so often, when it says in verse 16, For God so
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The
world, there's not everybody without exception. There are
people whom God hates. The Bible says that. You can
read it back in Psalm 5. There's other people, Romans
9. But God's hatred is not sinful. Listen, God's love is undeserved
and free. God loves only in Christ. The word world here is the world
of believers, all who believe in the name of the only begotten
Son of God. Over in 1 John 5, I believe it's
verse 21, he says, we are of God, the whole world lieth in
the wicked one. Now you'd agree that that doesn't
mean everybody without exception. In fact, even in the verse it
says, we are of God. But the whole world, that's the
sin-cursed world. That's people who live and die
in unbelief. They're in the wicked one. So
back here in John 1 and 29, the next day, John see of Jesus coming
unto him and saith, behold the Lamb of God, which beareth away,
taketh away the sin of the world. If your sins are all taken away,
at some point in time before you die, you will hear and believe
the gospel. You cannot be condemned. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
is risen again and is at the right hand of the Father, ever
living to make intercession for us. So look at verse 30 now.
It's continuing John's testimony of Christ. This is he of whom
I said, after me cometh a man which is preferred before me,
for he was before me. So John repeats the glorious
truth of the person of Christ as being both God and man in
one person. very God of very God, very man
of very man, without sin. And he says in verse 31, and
I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore
am I come baptizing with water. John did not know exactly who
this person was going to be until he went out there and began to
baptize and Jesus appeared to him. It says in verse 32, John
knew the gospel, he knew Christ in the gospel, but he didn't
know the look and the identity of the humanity of Christ until
Christ came to him. It says in John bear record verse
32, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a
dove and it abode upon him. Verse 33, now we'll go back to
Matthew 3 in just a moment. And I knew him not, but he that
sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom
thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same
is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And John says, and
I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God. Now let me
show you a little more detail back here in Matthew chapter
3. Now John, again, he knew the gospel, don't mistake that. Before
he ever saw the actual humanity of Christ, human body, Jesus
incarnate, he knew Christ in the doctrine of the gospel. We've
never seen Jesus in the flesh, but I know the gospel, I know
him, I've seen him with the eye of faith. And Paul deals with
that in 2 Corinthians 5 also. But then Jesus appeared to him
and then he knew that this was the man. And so look back at
Matthew chapter three and look at verse 13. John's out here baptizing. He
talked to the Pharisees and made them mad. And he says, then cometh
Jesus from Galilee. This is verse 13. Then cometh
Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him.
So Christ appeared on the scene. And he confronted John, and he
said, John, baptize me. Well, John had already said,
well, I'm not worthy to be your servant. And John, in verse 14,
he says, it says, but John forbade him, saying, I have need to be
baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? I ought to be baptized. Now, we'll pick up there next
time on this John's testimony of Christ. Hope you'll join us
next time for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.